


Well I Do.

by kcp



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: ITS 5 AM, M/M, TW: gray is trying to fade away, and i didnt beta this, and will be there to help him keep hope, but natsu is a soft boi for him, literal word vomit, not blatant self harm just giving up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-31
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2021-01-15 10:04:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21251621
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kcp/pseuds/kcp
Summary: Gray had started to fade away at the seams, but Natsu wouldn't let him.





	Well I Do.

**Author's Note:**

> This is trash for my own personal need for Soft Boi Gratsu. Not beta'd and not my best but I felt it in my bones that I needed to write this. Based loosely off of One More Light by Linkin Park.

One More Light. 

_Should've stayed, were there signs, I ignored?_  
_Can I help you, not to hurt, anymore?_  
_We saw brilliance, when the world, was asleep_  
_There are things that we can have, but can't keep_

Gray had looked into the sky the night of the celebration, having defeated another evil in the world. Protecting the world was their full time job, but it was starting to feel pointless. How could they keep going when there was always another darkness around the corner, just waiting to pounce? He had thought Deliora was his one true demon, that when he was defeated that the world would feel less suffocating. It just kept coming though, to tear him down again and again.

The fireworks started to light up the cloudless sky, a brilliant show of magic of all sorts bursting with the love and happiness of his guild mates. He saw a strong glowing red comet of sorts pulsing through the stars that exploded bigger and brighter than the rest. Natsu was also celebrating, even though he had been badly injured. The blind optimism that they'd always win was always Natsu's strong point.

Gray smiled thinking about the idiotic dragon slayer who somehow always ended up on top. But then he felt his heart clench. When would their luck run out? When would he look into his guild hall and no longer see Natsu's pink mop, or Ezra's immaculately polished armor? When would he lose his family again?

Gray decided it was time to go home, he didn't want to bring down the rest of his friends. 

_The reminders pull the floor from your feet_  
_In the kitchen, one more chair than you need oh_  
_And you're angry, and you should be, it's not fair_  
_Just 'cause you can't see it, doesn't mean it, isn't there_

Gray had decided to move from his apartment into a small cottage at the edge of Magnolia. It was a good deal, fully furnished, private, cozy and only 100,000 jewel a month. 

He pulled the wagon he had made from his ice up to the door filled with his stuff in the hope that a new environment would get him out of his rut. But as he opened the door to his new place he walked into the kitchen that laid just beyond the front door, he felt his world slow down and his eyes narrow.

His new landlord hadn't meant any offense, had actually been incredibly gracious. There was a welcome meal waiting on the dining table, set for four. The ice mage was immediately reminded of how alone he really was. That he had no one to share a meal with, no one to fill the empty seats around the table. 

He unleashed a tyrant of ice lances at the table just wanting to destroy it. He didn't stop until the dining area was in ruin and the taunting chairs and meals were obliterated. He at least had fire wood for his furnace tonight, if he even cared enough to do anything but sleep. Maybe he would finally just stay asleep. 

_Who cares when someone's time runs out?_  
_If a moment is all we are_

Natsu was the only who realized that Gray wasn't on a job and was in fact just missing it seemed. He hadn't seen his ice princess around in over a week, and when checking with Mira he knew that he hadn't accepted a job from the board. It's possible that he accepted a job from someone he knew that wasn't an official request and what not but that didn't sit right with the dragon slayer. 

He started to panic when he had checked his teammates apartment and found that he had up and moved. Natsu had no idea the other had even been searching for a new place, let alone its location. Something just wasn't right. He was going to sniff out the problem.

So he literally started sniffing all around town trying to pick up the ever familiar scent that Natus associated with his popsicle. Gray was his best friend, and there wasn't a place in the world he couldn't recognize the others smell. It was distinct, it smelled like a crisp cold morning after the first frost of the year, with a refreshing hint of fresh mint and cinnamon of all things. It was an odd combination, but anything else would've been just wrong to Natus because it fit Gray so well. 

With no luck for the first couple hours as he made circles from the town square outwards he was really starting to panic. Gray wouldn't just have left the guild without saying anything, wouldn't have left him with no explanation. Natsu refused to believe it. He had noticed that Gray had been more detached here late but he still wouldn't have done anything so reckless. 

When he started to approach the outer rim of the city limits, heading towards the mountains he caught a faint trail of what he had been searching for for hours. Chasing his nose he finally stumbled upon a small cottage, that was covered in feet of snow. It had to be Grays new place because it was late spring without even a cold breeze around but there was an actual mini blizzard raging only around the property. The snow was so deep it had to have been going for days. 

Plowing through the layers of frozen waste land guarding the door and melting a path he finally got to the small wooden archway to see it was covered in inches of ice. Warming his hands he attempted to melt the ice around the handle and it took a while but eventually got in shattering the sheets around it. 

When he got the chance to glance around, there was no light anywhere with all of the windows completely covered in pounds of snow. But his heightened senses let him see that the kitchen area was wrecked. His heart continued to drop because he thought there may have been an attack launched against his best friend and no one had been there to stop it. He kept following the minty smell until he stumbled across an ajar door leading to what seemed to be a bedroom. 

While his heart had been worried it was now stuttering when looked in and saw the covered form of what he knew to be Gray. He was barely breathing. 

"Gray! Gray, what happened? What's going on?" Immediately charging into the room, he glanced around for any threats but saw none. Natsu clambered over to the bed and reached to try to shake the ice mages shoulder but was stopped. 

"Don't." It was barely more than a whisper, but the pain held in it was jarring. Natsu had never seen or heard Gray like this before. He had to know what was going on with the raven haired man. Continuing his hands decent, upon touching the others shoulder he gasped. Gray was burning up, which just wasn't a thing that he did. It went against his biology to be this warm. And worse was that Natsu also just didn't feel much magic coming Gray either. 

"Gray you're hurt. Tell me what's going on, _please_." Pleading wasn't something the fire mage did, ever, but the lack of knowledge and the helplessness that was starting to form in his mind was pushing him to be gentle. He just had a feeling now would not be the time to yell. 

"You're right Natsu. I am hurt, so leave so I can just be done." Not knowing what Gray meant by that either he just held on tighter. 

"Tell me how you're hurt so I can help." 

"You just don't get it Flame Brain, I can't be helped. I can't be healed. I'm not hurt on the outside. I'm a lost cause, it all is, and I just want to be done." Stark realization hit Natsu like a train. Another reason to hate those wretched things.  
Gray wasn't hurt, he was hurting. And no one had come to help him, not even Natsu himself.

It looked as if Gray had withered in the days he'd been gone. He'd lost so much weight it shouldn't be possible and it looked as if he hadn't moved from his spot on the bed either. Natsu was dense but not dumb, Gray was using all his magic without eating causing him to just fade away. He nearly fell over from the stab in the gut that idea brought him. 

_If they say_  
_Who cares if one more light goes out?_  
_In a sky of a million stars_  
_It flickers, flickers_  
_Who cares when someone's time runs out?_  
_If a moment is all we are_  
_We're quicker, quicker_  
_Who cares if one more light goes out?_  
_Well I do_

Natsu had no idea what to do in this situation so he just listened to his instincts. When he felt ill or sad there was someone to hold him up, to lean on and it always helped. So he gently scooped up the too light and too warm of an ice mage and laid down. He rested Gray down onto his chest and closed his arms. If the world was falling apart for someone he loved, then he would hold it together no matter what. He was good at destruction and fighting but his absolute specialty was protecting. 

Gray tried to roll off him but literally just couldn't move more than his one hand. "Natsu if you don't let me go I'll never forgive you." It was a chance Natsu would have to take, he knew if he let go now then he'd never have the chance to latch back on. 

"No. I don't know what goes through that mind of yours half the time Gray, but I want to. If you let me I'll always be here to listen. I'll never let you be alone again. We always fight as a team, and that doesn't just mean against our enemies." Knowing that he was terrible at expressing his emotions, he tried his best. Gray had to know that for better or for worse he wasn't leaving and he never would. 

"You don't have to tell me now. But you do need to stop the blizzard. I know you know what your doing and that was the point, but Gray it doesn't have to be like this. You're the strongest person I know, including Erza. You're the glue of our family. And family doesn't abandon each other. So I won't leave." 

"Yes they do Natsu. Family does leave, they get snatched from you. They leave you alone and never come back. Then you're just a powerless lonely kid with no hope of stopping the evil of the world. No hope of anything ever helping or bringing them back." Gray was dry sobbing, not even having the strength to cry actual tears. 

"Gray. You've done more good for Fiore than most, and the hope is all around you. When you find the strength to fight that one last guy, the strength to keep standing when you're getting your ass beat. The strength to get up in the morning and face the worst enemy of all. Your own self. Strength to keep going is hope. The love that keeps us going in a fight, the protectiveness we feel towards everyone around us is the hope. Please stop the blizzard."

"One day were going to get in a fight we can't win and we'll both lose. Lose everything. How can I have hope when I know one day everyone I ever loved and do love is gone? I can't be here when that happens." Gray was getting warmer as time passed and it sounded like the snow was just coming down heavier. 

"How can I lose when you're standing by my side? If you're there, fighting with me, then you won't see that day because it won't happen. No one hurts me when you're there and no one hurts you. Which is what you're doing. If you were in any condition I'd fight you right now." 

"I could still kick your ass Flame Brain." He had at least stopped crying.

"Well until you do, I'm going to be right here holding someone I love until they realize they love me to enough to keep fighting. Then we'll work on the rest." The blizzard started to fade after a couple more minutes and the only reason he wasn't freaking out was because he could feel Gray not slipping but relaxing. 

"Natsu I'm not sure you mean it the way I hope you do but it's nice to be loved." Natsu looked down at the ice mage, and he could see him starting to calm the raging storm going on inside and out. He had always felt in his dragon slayer soul that Gray was his mate and he had been content with what they had until the time was right. There had been a silent agreement made years ago that they were endgame, they just hadn't felt the need to push it past the great thing they had going yet. Now he could see that he needed to be there for him in a more substantial way though. 

"No Popsicle I've always meant it that way. And I'm sorry I haven't been telling you it everyday. That'll change though, I promise. And until you're ready I'm willing to just be the shoulder to cry and the person to hug. But when you are I'd love it if you let me be the one to always keep you company so you never have to feel alone again." 

Natsu made a promise to never let Gray fade away. Even when Gray himself decided that he didn't care, Natsu would care enough for the both of them to keep on fighting.


End file.
